When the subprime mortgage crisis hit back in 2007, home remodeling went way down on everybody’s to-do lists, and the hardware industry took a nosedive. Stewart Oldford, owner of Northville Lumber, knows that firsthand.

“Our industry struggled mightily in 2008, 2009 with the rest of the economy,” he said.

Things started to turn around in summer 2010, he said, and business has been great ever since.

So great, in fact, that Northville’s longtime lumber store is expanding its footprint with a second store in Novi. The new location, which opened Sept. 21, is located at 22264 Novi Road, in a building that was once a Blockbuster video store.

Oldford said he’s had his eye on the space for a while. “We knew we were outgrowing our space,” he said. “I watched the store sit empty for a couple years, finally got the guts to call the guy about the space, and the rest, as they say, is history.”

Having a storefront on a major thoroughfare is one of the reasons for the new location. The original store, which will still be open, is tucked away on Baseline Road in Northville’s Cabbagetown district, near Parmenter’s Northville Cider Mill.

“We call it the best worst location you could ever have,” he joked.

The new storefront, dubbed “Northville Lumber’s Novi Home Design Center,” is 6,500 square feet. It’s a big step up from the original store, with plenty of space for things like windows and doors and cabinets.

Oldford sells to contractors and individual homeowners alike, and his customers like to have a big hand in picking out stuff for their homes. “People like to touch and feel what they’re buying,” he said. So it’s all about keeping as many different products out on the floor as possible.

“The most important part for us — which supports why we did the showroom — is the end user; the customer wants to have a hand in specifying the products that get used,” he said. “In our market, they are involved, they do their research. They want to go to a place that has knowledgeable sales staff, touch the products, know something a little deeper than what they can find on the internet.”

Oldford said the new shop will serve as a retail outlet for hardware, doors, and accessories.

“Right now, we’re showing windows and doors and door hardware and some kitchen and bath cabinets, and that’s really the line we’ll focus on expanding to in the near future,” he said. “While we certainly won’t have everything you need to design and decorate your home, the things that we do sell there will be key components.”

Take windows, for example. Northville Lumber has sold Andersen windows for almost 70 years, and they’ve just recently brought on another window line called Marvin, making them Michigan’s newest Marvin dealer. Oldford said they’re popular with architects and designers because they’re so customizable.

Oldford has worked at Northville Lumber since 1988. It’s a family business, dating back almost 200 years. It opened in 1827, 10 years before Michigan became a state, and Oldford believes it’s one of the oldest continuously operated business in Michigan.

“I’m from the Yerkes family,” Oldford explained. “We bought into Northville Milling, as it was then called, in the 1880s.” The original site, near Mill Race Village, was sold to Henry Ford in 1918 to build a valve plant, and that’s when Northville Lumber moved to its location on Baseline Road.

Oldford gives his forefathers a lot of credit for starting the business off on a solid footing.

“We’re lucky enough that my ancestors picked the greatest spot in the state of Michigan,” he said. “Northville is the bull’s eye. The folks that live in Canton and Plymouth and Salem and Novi and Farmington and Livonia are the most wonderful folks you could ask to do business with: They all have jobs, they love where they live, they love to spend money on their houses ... it’s a perfect match for a business model like ours.”

“It really goes right back to the people you take care of, the customers you take care of,” he added. “If you love to go to work, like what you do, like the customers that come in your shop, it’s a super thing.”